Mayor Denis Coderre wants special fund to buy back taxi driver permits

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Mayor Denis Coderre says he wants the Quebec government to create a special fund to buy back taxi permits from traditional cab drivers who say they can’t compete with Uber.

“We need to create a fund dedicated to buying back permits and find a solution for those who are going to experience big losses with their permits, which are worth around $170,000,” Coderre said on Wednesday during the weekly city executive committee meeting.

The mayor said he proposed the idea of buying back permits in a meeting with Transport Minister Laurent Lessard a day earlier.

The money, Coderre said, could come from fees that will be collected from Uber under a one-year deal that the U.S.-based ride-sharing company struck with the government of Premier Philippe Couillard in early September.

The deal, which is to come into effect at the end of the month, will see Uber acquire the equivalent of 300 taxi permits, giving the company 50,000 operating hours a week. 

In addition to collecting and paying taxes, Uber will have to pay a 90-cent fee per ride to the government if its drivers collectively work 50,000 hours a week or less; $1.10 per ride between 50,000 and 100,000 hours, and $1.26 for more than 100,000 hours. 

Uber will also pay a $0.07 fee per ride, which, the agreement says, is a way to respect the fact that traditional taxi drivers have high insurance costs.  

The fees collected are supposed to go into a fund to help modernize the traditional taxi industry. 

However, Coderre said part of the money should be used to buy back expensive permits from taxi drivers who want to get out of the industry. The province has already bought back taxi licences in the past, he added. In the 1980s, about one-third of the permits in Montreal region were purchased back because there was too much supply.

Coderre has sided with the taxi industry since it began its fight against what it calls unfair and illegal competition from Uber. The car-sharing service allows anyone to use their personal cars to make money as chauffeurs.

“I’ve always looked for equity, that there not be two definitions of legal transportation,” Coderre said. 

“I’m looking for equity and fair competition.”